


your resting place

by lumalaya



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Convenience Store, College, Crack, Drunkenness, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Party, University, kinda like a before sunrise thing?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-09 07:32:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15262491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumalaya/pseuds/lumalaya
Summary: Trying to sober up at a 7-Eleven at four in the morning is a tad bit better when you like who you're talking to.(In which Soonyoung is drunk for the first time and a mostly sober Wonwoo is tasked to take care of him.)





	your resting place

**Author's Note:**

> hi! welcome to my first fanfic. some notes:
> 
> > chuseok is a three-day mid-autumn festival where families traditionally go home to their provinces to pay respect to their ancestors  
> > the game cham cham cham is mentioned here and I tried my best to describe it for those who don't know it but it's from one fine day in japan!!

Wonwoo was never really the wisest at making decisions, but coming to Jeonghan’s party the night before he has to drive home for four straight hours by himself makes it to the list of stupid things he’s done – right in between _“eating a box of cereal a month past its expiration date so it doesn’t go to waste”_ and _“having a horror movie marathon the night before finals and forgetting to set an alarm.”_

The party itself isn’t that bad, but he definitely could have gone without it. If anything, he’d much rather eat alone at the sushi place near campus to celebrate the three-day break. Now, _that_ would be much more gratifying than witnessing the same sights at every other college party he’s been to: loud drinking games, bad decisions, and a broken piece of furniture that varies every time. Tonight, it’s a shoe rack; how exactly it was broken, he has no idea.

Nonetheless, he came, and he’s here, upon Jeonghan and Seungcheol’s request. After all, they’re his friends, and two very persuasive ones at that. Persuasive enough that he actually found himself hauling himself out of the dorm to Jeonghan’s house.

Autumn has only started, but it’s already become quite chilly, so he put on a denim jacket over his black shirt to make sure. The fact that he’s wearing ripped jeans sort of defeats the purpose, but he doesn’t really care. And, okay, he doesn’t _really_ regret going, but he’s more indifferent than anything. After an hour or so of socializing, he sticks with one bottle of beer and weaves around the house on his own as people get drunker and the night gets deeper.

It’s only a little after three in the morning when people finally start to leave in groups. (He wonders himself why he hasn’t left yet at this point.)

“Hey, Wonwoo! Come over here!” Seungcheol yells from the living room.

Wonwoo closes his eyes and contemplates whether to pretend to be part of the wall he’s leaning on. After heaving a sigh, he opens his eyes and walks over to the rest of the group standing right in the middle of the room like some weird cult: Seungcheol, Jeonghan, Junhui, Soonyoung, and Jihoon.

“Wait, where’s Jisoo?” Seungcheol asks.

“What do you expect?” Jun answers, smiling lazily. “He went home around 11.”

Jeonghan doesn’t even attempt to suppress his laugh. Grinning with his eyes almost half-closed, he asks, “Why? The party had only barely started then.”

“Something about parents and a midnight curfew.” Jun says.

“I can’t believe him.” Jihoon rolls his eyes. “We’re all well aware he lives alone.”

Standing farther behind the group is Soonyoung who hasn’t spoken at all, with his eyes practically glued shut. Although he doesn’t want to admit it, he’s drunk, which only Seungcheol and Jeonghan have noticed. He barely even feels like he’s still standing – his knees are wobbly and his mind’s a hazy clutter of neurons and shit. What should he know; he’s not a psychology major. It’s even a wonder how he’s still standing upright.

Wonwoo is taken aback by surprise and almost falls over when a clammy hand suddenly latches onto his shoulder. Soonyoung, to the group’s surprise, is, after all, no longer standing upright and leaning his body weight onto Wonwoo for support.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m not a wall, you intoxicated boy.”

Jihoon only snickers at the two boys.

“Anyway,” Seungcheol interjects, “I gathered us here since hopefully everyone’s left already and we can help Jeonghan clean up his house.”

“Ugh, you’re the boyfriend, you help him.” Jihoon grumbles.

“Dude, no, you practically forced me to come even though I have to drive home for Chuseok.” Wonwoo whines.

Seungcheol looks at Jun hopefully. The tall boy doesn’t meet his eyes and scratches the back of his head.

“Uh, actually, I was about to leave...?”

Jihoon grabs his arm and makes it for the door.

“Yeah, yeah, Jun and I need to leave, like, right now, so have fun, all of you! ByeseeyoulaterhappyChuseok!”

And just like that, the group is quickly reduced to two boyfriends, a brooding film major, a concerning drunk, and the responsibility of cleaning the house looming over them.

“Why did you even throw a party the night before Chuseok?” Wonwoo asks.

Jeonghan smiles. “Becaaaause, it’s a three-day break! Duuuuh.”

This makes the tired boy roll his eyes. “Sure, because a four-hour drive for me is a ‘break.’ Don’t you guys have to go home for the festival?”

“My parents are away, remember?” Jeonghan raises a bottle of beer to his lips confidently.

Seungcheol sighs. “And I wanted to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. My parents are fine with it as long as I go home right away when we’re done.”

Soonyoung, who has been leaning against Wonwoo this whole time, suddenly gives way and falls to the carpet in a tangled mess of limbs and sweat.

“Uh-oh.” Jeonghan chuckles.

“Dude, I swear, what happened to him?” Wonwoo asks.

“Nothing, it’s just his first time getting drunk.” Seungcheol answers.

Nobody makes a move to check if the poor boy on the floor is still breathing.

“Wonwoo, can you help him sober up?” This comes from Seungcheol, who looks like he’s more exhausted than anything. The circles under his eyes only look darker in this poor lighting.

Wonwoo sees this as an opportunity to escape cleaning duties, and his lips tug up into a genius smile - an evil, slightly tipsy, genius at that.

“Yeah, of course! You know, there’s this 7-Eleven really close by and I guess I could like take him there and just watch over him-”

“What, Wonwoo, no–”

“–you know, like drink water, maybe eat some ramen–”

“–we have water and ramen in this house you don’t have to leave–”

“–I’ll make sure Soonie sobers up in no time! Love you guys seeyouinthreedayshappyChuseokbye!”

And then it’s down to Seungcheol and Jeonghan.

“Ugh, what is it with our friends and escaping?”

Jeonghan giggles. “Don’t be so uptight, babe. Wanna check if someone’s passed out in any of the bedrooms?”

 

 

 

  

When Wonwoo makes it out onto the street in front of the house, he instantly regrets lugging along a drunk (but awake) Soonyoung with him. The boy is not only heavy, but also groggy and highly in need of hydration. He grunts as he places Soonyoung’s arm around him.

“Okay, come on. The 7-Eleven’s only a couple of blocks from here, so don’t fall over, nor drool, nor vomit on me. Okay? Okay, let’s go.”

Even after two years of knowing each other since freshman year, Wonwoo and Soonyoung still aren’t particularly close. Albeit they’re in the same friend group, their only connection is said group and several classes they’ve had together in university; otherwise, they’ve never really hung out nor talked as two friends. This would be the first, which is pretty weird, but also good, because Wonwoo believes he connects to people best when he’s alone with them.

Once they enter the convenience store, Wonwoo heaves a sigh of relief upon seeing a complete absence of customers aside from him and Soonyoung. The only other person in there is Minghao, another film major from their university, who is currently manning the cash register. This way, Soonyoung can humiliate himself all he wants and the audience will only have to be Wonwoo and Minghao. Although, judging by how unproblematic Soonyoung had been to transfer from the house to the store, Wonwoo shouldn’t be so worried.

Or maybe he should.

Wonwoo sets Soonyoung down on one of the round chairs, and the boy quickly plops his head down against the table. Taking his time, Wonwoo grabs three bottles of water from the refrigerator – one for him, the other two for Soonyoung.

“Hey,” Minghao greets him. “Rough night?”

Wonwoo looks over his shoulder and gestures at the boy fast asleep by the rack of chips. “For him, not for me. It’s his first time getting drunk.”

“Ah, I see. Maybe ramen would help him sober up? Just put anything in his system other than alcohol.”

“Sure.” Wonwoo quickly grabs two cups of ramen and several bags of chips from the racks directly behind him. Minghao gives him the receipt and his change.

“Oh, and,” Minghao adds, making him turn around, “if he vomits, you’re cleaning it up, not me. There’s a mop in the back room.”

A bead of sweat forms on Wonwoo’s forehead at the thought. He wants to ask why  _he_ has to do that when that's  _Minghao's_ job, but instead he just sighs, nodding and walking back to the table where he left Soonyoung. He grabs the sleeping boy’s shoulder and makes him sit upright.

“Hey, wake up.” He shakes Soonyoung slowly, making sure not to provoke any bodily fluids out of him. “Come on, you need to drink up.”

“Nooo, no, no more.” the boy drunkenly whines.

“I meant water, you idiot, I’m not trying to kill you.” He opens a cool bottle of water and brings it to the boy’s lips. “Drink or I’ll force it down your throat. You need to sober up.”

Obediently, Soonyoung takes the bottle from him and downs it all in three gulps.

“Need more water?”

“Nngh, I’m good.”

The black-haired boy makes another attempt to fall asleep on the table but Wonwoo quickly prevents him from doing so.

“Not so fast. You need to eat up and wash away all that alcohol in your system. You haven’t eaten anything all night have you?”

Soonyoung only grunts.

Wonwoo opens the cups of ramen and stands again to walk over to the hot water dispenser. As he prepares their food, Soonyoung who is too tired to resist temptation, falls asleep again, hitting his forehead against the table but is too drunk to notice. When Wonwoo hears the painful sound, he cringes and can only wish that the poor guy doesn’t get himself injured, or even worse, killed.

He returns once again to the table and decides to observe the sleeping boy while waiting a few minutes before mixing in the sauces into both cups. He wonders why the two of them have never hung out alone before. Soonyoung, who is only a month older than him, seems much younger because of his childlike behavior. He likes to laugh a lot, and although his humor amuses Wonwoo, they haven’t really found many things in common together, nor opportunities to bond outside of the group. Maybe this is a good time.

Well, as good as helping someone sober up after a night of drinking can get.

When he’s done preparing the ramen, he wakes Soonyoung up for the nth time tonight. Thankfully, there is less struggling and whining on his part. Wonwoo pushes one of the steaming cups towards him.

“Hngh,” Soonyoung mumbles out, “thank you.”

“No problem.” Wonwoo says, starting to eat from his own cup.

The two boys eat in silence, with only sounds of passing cars every once in a while filling the silence. Once Wonwoo is finished, he notices that Soonyoung is only halfway through, with a very pained look on his face.

“How much did you even have to drink?” he asks innocently, trying to hide a smile.

Soonyoung closes his eyes and starts counting on his hand.

“Well, uh... There... There was that can of beer I grabbed from the fridge when I got to the party. I honestly meant to get a can of cola, but I thought why not. And then after finishing my second, Jisoo made me finish his – he was only halfway through – because he had to leave, and since Jeonghan saw him leaving, he also put a red cup of some ‘cocktail’ he’d come up with in my hand.”

“A ‘cocktail’? Knowing Jeonghan, he must have given it a name.”

Soonyoung furrows his brows together trying to remember.

“...oh, yeah, he called it _‘Jisoo’s Curfew.’_ To be honest with you, it tasted like shit.”

“That’s because Jisoo’s curfew is full of shit.”

At that, Soonyoung widens his eyes and his mouth forms a little ‘o’. His eyes sparkle in the fading convenience store light and Wonwoo thinks he looks like he’s buffering.

“Holy...whoa. I – wow. That’s. That makes sense. Wow.”

“You’re so slow.”

“That’s actually really clever. Wow. You’re so smart, Wonwoo. Like, so smart. You’re really smart.”

“Soonyoung.”

“I didn’t know you were smart? I thought you failed one of our history classes before.”

This makes Wonwoo narrow his eyes at him. “I did. Your point?”

“You’re really smart....”

“Shut up and eat, Soonie.”

Soonyoung is about to eat another forkful of noodles when he stops and looks at Wonwoo.

“My name’s not Soonie.”

“It is now.”

“Wh-what? I thought it was Soonyoung? I was born Soonyoung right?”

It’s at this moment that Wonwoo realizes that Soonyoung is really drunk. Like, more drunk than he’d thought. Although he’s eating well and able to keep up conversation, his eyes are still half-closed and his words slur around a bit, dragging on long after he’s finished his sentences.

“You were. Your name _still is_ Soonyoung, I’m just going to call you Soonie from now on.”

Before Soonyoung can utter another word, he’s interrupted.

“Say, how drunk are you right now?”

Soonyoung shuts his mouth and thinks long and hard.

“Well... Well, uh, after Jeonghan made me drink _‘Jisoo’s Curfew’_ , I danced for a while until Jihoon made me play this drinking game in his place. I can’t remember what it was, though. But I must have lost a lot because, um, I remember drinking a lot? I just kept drinking what people gave me, and I didn’t strip or anything but like, I had to drink…drink, uh, maybe frice? Or more than that-”

“Frice?”

“You know... Two, twice, three, thrice, four…”

“Frice.”

“Frice.”

Soonyoung continues eating his ramen and Wonwoo can only stare at him helplessly until he finishes.

 

 

 

 

  

Once Soonyoung is done with his ramen, he downs his second bottle of water and sighs happily. Wonwoo thinks it ends there, but a look of pain quickly flashes across his face.

“Oh no,” Wonwoo mutters under his breath. “Are you okay?”

Luckily enough, Soonyoung just smiles. “Fine. Just…fine. Fine.”

“How do you feel?”

“Um…. My mind’s a little...hgnfh…h-hazy. Like, swimming? Like my head’s swimming around, but not drowning. Am I drowning?”

“Drowning in ramen, I hope, and not alcohol.”

“N-no.... I...I wanna say alcohol’s a friend, but it’s.... It’s more like an acquaintance? No – scratch that, it’s like, it’s like a second cousin.” When Wonwoo doesn’t respond, he continues. “They’re familiar, and they’re okay at first, but as time passes it becomes almost unpleasant and you realize they’re such a huge presence, it almost suffocates you.”

After a few moments pass, Wonwoo finally speaks.

“Soonyoung.... Is there anything you want to tell me?”

Unable to help it, Soonyoung laughs out loud for what seems like hours. He laughs for so long that Minghao even turns to look over at them and Wonwoo questions how he’s still breathing. The happy (and also kind of scary) sound echoes around the quiet store, and when he’s done, he wipes away a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead.

“Am I the only one who hates second cousins? Anyway, long story short, yes, I’m still drunk. I wanna say a little but is that reaching too hard? I’m not sure where certain organs are placed in my body. Ask me again later.”

Finally, Wonwoo laughs as well. “You know what, I’m gonna put on some music. It’s so quiet in here. Hey, Minghao, is that alright?”

Minghao archs an eyebrow at Wonwoo. “Go ahead. I don’t really care what you guys do. Just don’t break anything or kill each other. And clean up after yourselves.”

“…right. Got it!”

Wonwoo pulls out his phone to put on a playlist and sets it against the window in front of them.

“Oh, I love this song!”

Suddenly, Soonyoung gets up and starts moving around.

Wonwoo watches the boy flail all over the place, barely in sync with the beat. He wants to say that through this, he can confirm that Soonyoung really is drunk, but the truth is, he’s also like this around their friends. It’s nothing new, but it’s the first time Wonwoo’s seeing him do something like this somewhere random, like a 7-Eleven at three in the morning. He knows that Soonyoung is a dance major, so it’s no wonder that even with drunk, sloppy movements, he’s still able to make it look cool. But no matter how cool it is, Wonwoo has to admit that he does look pretty stupid dabbing all over the place to whatever hip hop song is on.

It’s only a matter of time (aka the third song) before Soonyoung grabs Wonwoo’s hand and pulls him up.

“Soonie, what are you doing?”

“You called me Soonie again!”

“I’m not dancing with you.”

“Wonuuu, pleaaase?”

“Did you just call me Wonu?”

“Everyone does!”

“Not you.”

Soonyoung smiles and suddenly, Wonwoo finds himself swaying along to the beat. It is a nice song after all.

He can barely keep up with all of these elaborate moves Soonyoung is pulling out, but he’s grateful there is too much alcohol in his system for him to do whatever he normally does at the dance competitions Seungcheol and Jeonghan has made him watch. They look pathetic, dancing in the middle of a convenience store together, but no one cares and nothing matters and everything may just be alright.

That is, until Soonyoung attempts to grind on Wonwoo.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey! Hey, no grinding. No - NO GRINDING, SOONYOUNG.”

Soonyoung pouts as the song ends and Wonwoo returns to his seat. But as the next song starts, he only smiles and continues to dance. When he’s had enough, he sits back down, sweatier than before, and Wonwoo finds it in his heart to buy two more bottles of water, offering the other one to the crazy boy who had just tried to grind on him earlier.

“Hey, Soonie?”

“Hmm… Wonu?”

“When did you start dancing?”

Soonyoung takes a large gulp of water before answering. He takes a little longer to form words and string sentences together, but for the most part, he’s coherent.

“In middle school, actually. I took up taekwondo when I was young, and, well, the art of it just got me really curious about dancing, so I started learning. After winning a few competitions, I realized that it’s really something that I enjoy and want to do with my life so I chose it as my major. I mean…. I’ve known since high school that I wanted to be a choreographer, and that’s what I plan on doing. Having my own studio? Being on stage? Choreographing for famous celebrities? That’s the dream. It was then, and it still is.”

He looks down at his hands clasped together on his lap and pulls his hoodie’s sleeves over them before continuing.

“Dancing…. It feels just like breathing, you know? Whenever I’m frustrated, I dance, and it literally feels like I can breathe again. When I’m practicing for competitions it feels like my heart is in this marathon where it just keeps going and it makes me feel so free. That’s why I work extra hard, so everyone can feel like they’re in that marathon with me. So that I don’t just feel it, but also show that I’m free. That’s…yeah. Yeah, that’s dancing for me.”

Wonwoo smiles. “That’s good. It’s nice to know that you succeed in something you love and have aspirations for it.”

Soonyoung laughs wholeheartedly. “Succeed? I’ve lost more times than I’ve won.”

“Exactly. You’re not afraid to try...not afraid to fail. I don’t know you very well yet, but I do know that you’re hardworking.”

“Yet.”

“What?”

Soonyoung gives a small smile and puffs out a breath before looking up at Wonwoo.

 “You said yet.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Hmm…. Wonu, why haven’t we ever hung out before? Like, just the two of us?”

Wonwoo sighs. “I don’t know, I guess we never really had the chance?”

“We’ve known each other for two years.”

“Man, I really have no idea. I guess we just never really saw each other eye to eye. Not in a bad way, but we haven’t really had the chance to connect on the same level as the others yet.”

“Hmm….” Soonyoung nods in agreement. “Wait, by same level, do you mean…? I mean, two of our friends are dating–”

“Nononono, not like that.” Wonwoo quickly interrupts. “I just meant...that we’ve mostly just been closer to the others. You’re close to Jihoon right? And Seungcheol?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess you’re right. But we’re friends, right?”

“Of course, Soonie. You can talk to me anytime. You know, you’re not so bad yourself.”

“Hmm.…” Soonyoung smiles.

Wonwoo thinks all is well until a look of pain flashes over Soonyoung’s face, and remains for several moments longer. Soonyoung puts a hand over his mouth and gets up from his chair, sweating. Wonwoo immediately panics, remembering what Minghao had told him earlier.

_“Oh, and,” Minghao adds, making him turn around, “if he vomits, you’re cleaning it up, not me. There’s a mop in the back room.”_

A vision of a passed out Soonyoung crosses Wonwoo’s mind, with him getting the mop from the back room and Minghao laughing at him as he cleans up Soonyoung’s mess. Complete horror fills Wonwoo’s face, causing him to exclaim, “The ramen cup! Do it in the ramen cup! Quickly!”

Obediently, Soonyoung grabs the closest empty container and lurches out what feels like his insides, almost neatly into the cup.

Wonwoo sighs in relief before cringing at the putrid smell.

 

 

 

 

 

“It’s hot in here, isn’t it?”

Soonyoung, who is currently feeling like he’s bathing in his own sweat, hastily takes off his white hoodie and instantly feels a lot cooler than moments before. He sighs happily and notices the brown-haired boy staring at him.

“What?” he asks.

“You’re shirtless.”

“Wha–” he glances down at his torso, and true enough, he isn’t wearing anything, which is probably why he feels relief from the heat. “Did I forget to put on a shirt? Did I take it off at the party? Wonu–”

“Your shirt is in your hoodie, idiot.”

Upon closer inspection, there is indeed another layer of fabric in the hoodie, which Soonyoung quickly puts back on. He smiles sheepishly at Wonwoo, who only heaves out a deep breath.

When he checks his phone, Wonwoo sees that it’s only half past four. He almost wants to cry at the thought of his bed, and how much he wants to fall into it right now. He’s quite tired after the dance session with Soonyoung, who had also vomited not only once, but twice, which led to him throwing out both cups of ramen and having to buy five more bottles of water.

He pushes his hair back with one hand and decides to bring out his glasses. After putting them on, he closes the case in which he stores them, and notices Soonyoung staring at him.

“...what? I’m wearing a shirt, aren’t I?”

Soonyoung finds this funny. “You are! You are...but, uh, you wear glasses?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“How come I’ve never noticed before?”

“I don’t wear them out often. I wear them to class sometimes, but I always sit in the back, so that’s why you probably never notice.”

“That’s so cool....” Soonyoung trails off, transfixed on the pair of spectacles on the bridge of Wonwoo’s nose. He even reaches out a finger. Wonwoo pulls back, but then stops and lets the curious boy touch the rim.

Soonyoung notices then that the two of them are oddly close to each other’s faces, close enough that he can see the distinction between Wonwoo’s pupils and irises. Close enough that when he whispers “ _pretty_ ”, Wonwoo hears him.

“What?”

Soonyoung quickly pulls back and taps Wonwoo’s nose. “Boop!”

Wonwoo furthers his eyebrows at his own nose and smiles. “God, you’re so weird when you’re drunk.”

Suddenly, a loud click goes off behind them.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Wonwoo says, turning around to see Minghao holding a camera and looking embarrassed.

“Oh my God, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to–”

“No, no, it’s okay.”

Soonyoung, still startled, looks like a deer caught in headlights with his eyes wide like saucers, unsure what to do. Minghao immediately sets the camera down on the counter and tries to explain.

“I just...I just, you know, thought you guys looked interesting to photograph. Two boys in a convenience store at four in the morning, with empty streets outside, a really sketchy fluorescent light above them, and a couple of empty water bottles lying around them.”

Neither of the two boys understands, actually, but they nod, not knowing what to say.

“Are you going to post that?” Wonwoo asks innocently.

“I don’t know. Oh, am I not supposed to? It’s okay, I–”

“Dude, I swear, it’s okay. I’m not mad.” Chuckling quietly, Wonwoo looks over to Soonyoung who has begun to feel sleepy again. “We were just surprised, is all. I don’t really care if you post it or not.”

“Oh, okay.” Minghao says, and that’s that.

Recovered from his shock and now more awake, Wonwoo snaps his fingers at Soonyoung.

“Soonie,” he says gently, “don’t sleep yet.”

“Why not?”

“Well, you’re still sobering up. And I don’t really have anything to do.”

“Don’t you have your phone?”

“Yeah, but I don’t really have much use of it. Besides, what are we supposed to do when you sober up?”

Soonyoung wracks his brain trying to remember his plans for after the party. He’d gotten so caught up in the _during_ that he can no longer remember the _before_ or _after_. It doesn’t even feel like after because he’s still in the during.

“Uh.... Can you give me a ride and drop me off at my house later in the morning? I only live twenty minutes away. I told my mom I’d be sleeping over at Jeonghan’s.”

“Then why aren’t you sleeping at Jeonghan’s right now if you want to sleep so badly?”

“Walk...distance...drunk....”

“Ah, I see. Okay. But, I mean, you did get here just fine–”

“Shhh. No...no, it’s fine. Here. I’m okay here. You’re okay here.”

“I’m okay?” Wonwoo is amused at that.

“Yes. Okay. You’re okay.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Soonyoung is about to close his eyes and sleep again when Wonwoo snaps his fingers again.

“Soonyoung! No, talk to me.”

“Whyyy?” the boy whines. “Hnghh, let me sleep.”

“I’m bored. Ask me anything.”

Soonyoung looks at him, clueless. He decides to go with the first thing that comes to mind, out of many possible questions he could ask. There’s still a lot for him to learn about Wonwoo, but seeing as he has the rest of the night – morning – he might as well go through them one by one. After all, he had only found out tonight that Wonwoo wore glasses. How could you be so oblivious to miss something such as eyesight?

“Hmm... Since you asked me about dance, I’ll ask you about your major. What got you into film?”

Wonwoo leans back, pondering on the question. He looks through the window out across the street, and focuses on the flickering streetlight, useless at the moment with the lack of vehicles and pedestrians.

“I’ve always loved stories. Telling them, consuming them.... I’ve loved reading ever since I was younger, even until now, and I got into film in high school. It’s almost like an addiction.”

He adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose and looks over at Soonyoung. Noticing that the boy is intently listening, he looks back at the street and continues.

“It started with one good film. And then two. Throw in a couple of bad ones, a bunch of mediocre ones, and several excellent ones, and then it just became something that stuck with me. I watched films almost every day, and as I got busier, I stuck to my movie marathons on the weekends. There’s just so much that goes into films – the story, the dialogue, the direction, the cinematography, the acting, the music, the editing. Every little detail helps piece all of it together, and whether it comes out good or bad, it’s still a story being told. And you choose what to make of it.”

He makes eye contact with Soonyoung, whose eyes no longer look heavy or half-closed with sleepiness, and turns to face him. He smiles, and speaks again, his voice growing softer.

“You see, Soonie, no two people watch the same film and interpret it the exact same way. And I don’t know.... That’s pretty cool. Because there are so many intelligent films out there that really make you think, and trust me, I’ve gone through days walking around feeling meaningless because of mind-blowing films, but knowing that so many other people have seen the same thing and brought home different pieces of knowledge with them? That’s pretty fucking cool.”

When he finishes his answer, Soonyoung is almost grinning from ear to ear.

“I felt your heart right then and there.”

“Really?” Wonwoo smiles shyly at him, looking away. “What did it feel like?”

He expects Soonyoung to only laugh. But the boy surprises him and answers sincerely.

“It felt...nice. You’re actually a pretty cool person, Wonu.”

“I’m ‘pretty cool’ now? No longer ‘okay’?” he says, referring to what Soonyoung rambled on earlier. “And why do you keep calling me Wonu? You know the others just call me that for fun.”

“Because,” Soonyoung chuckles, “your name’s kinda hard to say, and my tongue’s not in the mood to do much work with consonants and syllables right now.”

“I know you’re drunk, but I also know you’re sober enough to form coherent sentences only with a slight slur here and there.”

Soonyoung reddens. “I don’t know, Wonu sounds cute. And you’re not really the type of person that people describe as cute.”

“Thanks?” Wonwoo says. Holding onto one of the many stupid things Soonyoung has said tonight (he should really makes a list), he asks, “And your tongue ‘doesn’t want to do much work’? Wow, I pity whomever you’ve dated who has had to put up with said tongue.”

“Never dated anyone.” Soonyoung replies honestly. “My mom told me not to have a girlfriend until college, and I don’t know, I just still haven’t. No particular reason.”

“No girlfriend?” Wonwoo repeats. “What about a boyfriend?”

If anything, Soonyoung only reddens even more, choking on air, causing Wonwoo to laugh out loud at his misery. He claps his hands together rapidly as the poor boy opens another bottle of water and quickly drinks from it. Long after Soonyoung’s recovered from his embarrassment, Wonwoo is still cackling so much that he can only glare at him.

When Wonwoo’s done, his face red and heavy breaths easily audible in the silent 7-Eleven, Soonyoung angles his head to the side and looks at him.

“Did you know,” he says in a soft voice, “that when you laugh really hard, you scrunch your nose like this?”

To make his point, Soonyoung scrunches his own nose, and looks so much like a hamster that Wonwoo can’t help but smile.

“And when you scrunch your nose,” he continues, “some sort of ‘V’ forms on the bridge of your nose, right there,” he lightly taps on the patch of skin right where the rim of Wonwoo’s glasses rest on his nose, “and more wrinkles appear above it and your eyes grow small and your mouth just stays open with a smile. It’s...it’s cute. You look happy.”

“Well,” Wonwoo is unsure of what to say. “That’s one of the main reasons people laugh, Soonyoung, if you weren’t unaware. God, how drunk are you right now?”

Soonyoung giggles. _Giggles_. “I don’t know, but I feel better. I feel…lighter.”

This boy surely is weird, but Wonwoo can’t help but smile. “Good. That’s good.”

 

 

 

  

“Hey, Wonu?”

Wonwoo, who had been attempting to fall asleep, jumps to the sound of Soonyoung’s voice.

“This is...a really...stupid question, but, do all glasses come in cases like yours?”

Wonwoo takes his time to look at the other boy, his eyes narrowed.

“Soonie, are you serious?”

“Yes.”

When he doesn’t say any more, Wonwoo sighs and proceeds to answer the question. “Yes, Soonie, they do. And don’t ask me why you’ve never noticed before; I have no idea either.”

“...how did you know I was gonna ask that?”

“You’re drunk and sleepy, Soonyoung. Your brain isn’t functioning as well. You get repetitive.”

“You like saying my name a lot.”

“Hm?” Wonwoo looks over at him and realizes he’s right. Not paying it any mind, he says, “It’s endearing.”

“It’s cool, though, that you bring around your glasses case and actually clean your glasses before putting them on. I didn’t expect you’d need them at the party.”

“I don’t. I bring them just in case. Besides, they don’t call me the cleanest friend for nothing.”

“Hahaha.” Soonyoung laughs almost lifelessly in a small voice only Wonwoo can hear. “You bring your glasses in a case...just in case.... Hahahaha. Neat freak.”

Wonwoo is about to reply when Soonyoung takes it back.

“No, not freak. Neat dude. Neat guy. Neat. Neat person? Neat Wonu.... Wonu.”

“What are you...?” Wonwoo trails off, completely confused but entertained.

“Wonu. Wo...nu.” Soonyoung chuckles. “Your name’s fun to say. What did you say earlier? _In the rear wing_? End is hearing. In here, ring...?”

He can’t even believe what he’s hearing right now. Wonwoo facepalms, and smiles at the complete, innocent, drunken stupidity. “Oh my God, you’re so dumb, I said ‘endearing.’”

“In the rear wing! I knew I was right the first time.”

Wonwoo laughs even more.

If he were being honest, Soonyoung had heard Wonwoo correctly this entire time. Although he’s still a bit drunk, he’s quickly sobering up, much to his pleasure. Or, lack of pleasure, really, because he can feel a headache coming on. It feels like his skull is still vibrating from the loud music at the party earlier. He really, _really_ needs to sleep, or else he’ll feel even worse later on when he comes home in the morning.

But something is keeping him from falling asleep. Or, rather, someone is keeping him awake. He has to admit; he enjoys the company of the brown-haired boy with glasses, no matter how many times he’d called him stupid, or glared at him because he had, actually, said something stupid. Even with all the glaring, Wonwoo was actually much nicer than he had originally thought, and Soonyoung was quickly warming up to him.

Now that he’s sobering up, come to think about it, Wonwoo making him ramen and buying him around ten bottles of water to make sure he didn’t die from dehydration was actually really nice, and something he didn’t have to do. But he did. And for his first time getting drunk, Soonyoung wouldn’t really say it was a huge regret. Not when he gets to get to know a guy like Wonwoo in a 7-Eleven at a time like this.

Or maybe there are some regrets – like, drinking ten bottles of water in a span of two hours, kind of regrets.

“Hey, Wonu?”

“Yeah?”

“I really, really, really, reaaally, need to pee.”

“Soonie, can’t you hold it in? There’s no restroom here, but we can go back to Jeonghan’s ho-”

“Nononono, now, NOW. Please. Oh my God.”

Wonwoo refrains from groaning in frustration. Instead, he slides a hand over his face and asks Minghao if they have a restroom. As expected, they don’t, but he does mention the empty parking lot beside the store.

“It has, like, grass and stuff.” This is something that Minghao actually says.

“Right! Why didn’t I think of that?” Wonwoo laughs.

“Wonu! Please?” Soonyoung looks like he’s about to cry.

“What are you waiting for? Just go already!”

“It’s dark out! What if someone kidnaps me in the middle of my business…. Or worse, the devil comes and possesses me!”

“It’s five in the morning, Soonie. It’s well after Satan’s hours.”

Soonyoung ignores this and gets up, holding onto Wonwoo’s hand as he runs outside the store. Wonwoo loudly expresses his annoyance, but the only sound Soonyoung can hear right now is the sweet, sweet bliss of his own bodily function, and the fireflies fading into the night.

Huh. Perhaps he can be poetic when he’s drunk.

When he’s done, he zips himself up, the only light source coming from the blinding convenience store sign. Wonwoo only glares at him before going back to the store. The store bell rings again, like a celebratory song welcoming the two boys back, and they sit down again. After having peed in the empty parking lot with no reservations whatsoever, Soonyoung maintains a relaxed smile on his face, while Wonwoo can only roll his eyes at him. _Unbelievable_.

“Let’s do a checkpoint, shall we?” Wonwoo says aloud, sighing. “You have: fallen on the carpet in the middle of Jeonghan’s living room, banged your head against this table we’re leaning on right now, made me dance to the point of exhaustion in the middle of a 7-Eleven, taken off your shirt in the middle of said 7-Eleven without noticing, puked into two empty cups of ramen, and peed in the empty parking lot beside said 7-Eleven because you couldn’t hold it in until we reached Jeonghan’s house.”

“I’d exclude the dancing from the list, that’s not too wild – and hey! Not my fault I’ve had too much water to drink tonight. You can’t blame me for my bodily functions! I’m human, geez.”

“’Geez’? Okay, maybe you _are_ sobering up.”

Soonyoung sighs. “I really hope I am.”

“How was your first time getting drunk, Soonie? Anything too wild?” He receives a chuckle from Soonyoung. “I hadn’t expected this to be your first time, though. Was it peer pressure? Some ‘coming of age feeling’?”

“No, no. Just…a lack of self-control, I guess. It wasn’t like I told myself before coming to the party that, _‘Oh, I’m getting drunk tonight.’_ No, it was…it was more like, _‘It’s okay if I get drunk tonight. Better if I don’t, but it’s okay.’_ ”

“Hmhm.” Wonwoo nods in understanding. “And how was it? Was it really _‘okay’_ , or now do you feel like it’s less than okay?”

“It was…okay. I’m not sure what kind of drunk I am yet, but at least I’m neither the emotional kind nor the stripping kind.”

“’Nor the stripping kind’? I wouldn’t say so yet.” Wonwoo gives a mischievous smile, making Soonyoung blush at the memory of when he accidentally removed both his hoodie and his shirt earlier.

“It was an accident! I didn’t even mean to! I just–”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I know. I just like teasing you. You get all red and flustered.”

“That’s so cheesy.”

“Says the guy who was talking about my nose a while ago.”

“I don’t even know where that came from! It was just a moment thing, all the alcohol mixing with my eyesight and speech–”

“You’re cute.”

“Thanks.”

The two boys stay like that, smiling at each other in peace.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s almost six in the morning when Wonwoo suddenly jolts awake.

“Hey, wake up.”

Soonyoung looks at him with curious eyes, pouting almost like a child. Confused, Wonwoo wakes up, and has to clear his throat after trying to speak. His voice has lowered a few registers from sleepiness, and he can barely keep up with Soonyoung’s volume.

“What now?”

“I can’t sleep.”

“What do you mean? You were literally trying to sleep every chance you got earlier.”

“That was hours ago. I mean, I’m...I feel more conscious now. More awake. More aware. My head isn’t swimming anymore, but there’s still a slight buzz that I can almost feel on the tip of my nose.”

Wonwoo stares at him for several moments, and proceeds to boop his nose to spite him.

“Okay, whatever.” He sighs, taking off his glasses to rub away the sleep from his eyes. Yawning loudly, he says, “What do you usually do at times like this?”

“Sleeping, duh. Or waking up when I have an early class.”

“Oh, yeah, definitely. Seven AM classes suck, don’t you think?”

“They’re alright. I get to see the sun rise and walk around campus breathing the morning air while it’s still fresh on the few instances I’m not running late.” Soonyoung notices Wonwoo’s confused expression. “But yeah, they suck or whatever.”

Wonwoo chuckles, a light sound of amusement that escapes through his nose. “I just.... I’m more of a night person, you know? That’s why it became such a bad habit of mine to stay up late reading or watching films. I feel more awake at night. Like, it makes more sense.”

“I can see why. But you know, at the end of the day, I’m almost too tired to function, so I’m usually knocked out already. There’s just something about the day that makes me feel like things are going right and I can actually accomplish stuff.”

“Hmm…” Wonwoo looks away from him and faces the window. “Speaking of day, it looks like the sun’s about to rise.”

Soonyoung shifts his attention to outside the window, and surely enough, the horizon is beginning to change color. The darkness of the night is slowly but surely fading away, and he feels almost like he’s starting to breathe again.

They sit in silence, watching the sun take it time in making its appearance, the sky growing warmer and warmer, and the neighborhood coming to life with busy people.

“Happy Chuseok.” Wonwoo mumbles after heaving a deep breath.

“Happy Chuseok.” Soonyoung whispers back. “It’s pretty.”

Wonwoo looks at him weirdly, because all he can see are blinding rays of light getting in his eyes as the sun gets higher and higher and the streets get noisier. Actually, at this point, he can barely see the sun anymore from the window.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” the entranced boy repeats, smiling in admiration.

Wonwoo rolls his eyes, smiling. “No, it’s stupid. Soonyoung, I can barely see anything. It’s just bright light blinding me from behind the houses across the street.”

“Shut up.”

Wonwoo is about to retort something back, but when he turns to face Soonyoung and sees how quiet he has become, his breaths steady as he admires the poor view they get from this 7-Eleven on the corner of the street. He then decides that maybe there is some beauty to admire in the mundane things. Like, talking to someone in a 7-Eleven at six in the morning when you’ve gotten practically no sleep at all.

“Okay,” he whispers, causing the moody Soonyoung to face him. “I guess it’s pretty like you.”

The other boy rolls his eyes and blows out a breath, puffing his cheeks. “I’m gonna vomit.”

Although he was actually joking, Wonwoo stands up as his heart begins to race. Stressed, he quickly points to the door and yells, “Hey! Do it outside now! We don’t have any more ramen cups and I’m not gonna make you vomit in a tiny water bo–”

“Calm down.” Soonyoung talks over him, annoyed. “I was joking, chill.”

“After what happened to you earlier? Don’t joke about that, dude.”

Wonwoo sit back down apprehensively after observing him for several moments, making sure there are no signs of him having to do another bodily function that involves fluids of some sorts.

“It wasn’t that bad. I’ve seen worse.” he defends.

Wonwoo rolls his eyes, knowing better. “It wasn’t that bad because for some miraculous reason you didn’t miss the cups at all and your lucky butt had _me_ to dispose of them properly. But ramen cups? Really?”

“It was your idea!”

“I’ve seen people puke in sinks, toilets, flower vases, even on someone they were about to hook up with. But now, I don’t think I can eat ramen ever again. I’m, like, scarred.”

“You’re just overreacting.”

Soonyoung huffs and rests his chin on his palm, turning his focus back to the road slowly regaining life as the sun shines on it. Wonwoo chuckles softly at the moody boy.

“Hey, Soonie?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re still a teeny bit drunk, aren’t you?”

“Oh, no. I’m as sober as a baby.”

“Bad analogy. Babies are like tiny drunk adults.”

“ _What I’m saying is_ , I’m okay now.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I am, I swear! It’s like I haven’t even gone out drinking at all.” When Wonwoo doesn’t pay him any attention and only rolls his eyes for what feels like the hundredth time this morning, Soonyoung feels a false sense of bravado in him, and a fire lights up in his eyes. “Hey, if you won’t believe me, I’ll prove it.”

“You’ll prove it?” Wonwoo gives a hearty laugh filled with mocking but also filled with joy nonetheless. “Okay, let’s play a game. You still know how to play _Cham cham cham_?”

Soonyoung laughs confidently. “Ha! I’m a pro at _Cham cham cham_. I beat everyone at it in elementary.”

“Okay, whatever. You start.”

Soonyoung brings out his palm and places it in front of Wonwoo’s face, his fingers pointing at the boy.

“ _Cham cham cham_!”

He points to the right, and fortunately, Wonwoo’s head faces the same direction, giving him the chance to hit him on the head. Soonyoung smiles and repeats the action with confidence, already feeling good about proving his point. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

“ _Cham cham cham_!”

Much to his disappointment and to Wonwoo’s satisfaction, the two of them go in different directions, making it Wonwoo’s turn. The boy smiles like the devil and places his palm in front of Soonyoung.

“ _Cham cham cham_!”

The black-haired boy already fails on the first try and accepts the hit to his head with determination.

“ _Cham cham cham_!”

He fails yet again, and breathes heavily through his nose as Wonwoo hits him again.

“ _Cham cham cham_!”

Poor Soonyoung only takes more hits, and on the fifth time, when he finally thinks he outsmarts Wonwoo who has been using his left this entire time, they still end up going right at the same time, causing him to yell in frustration.

“AHHH! I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!”

Wonwoo laughs at his misery, an evil smile on his face.

“Not so good at it now, are you?” Wonwoo smiles at him, his eyes going smaller as he beams with pride. He can’t say the same for the other boy, who is taking deep breaths and glaring at him.

“Whatever.”

Right at that moment, for the first time in hours, another customer enters the store, causing the two boys to go silent and look away from each other. Upon the presence of someone else other than the two of them, it almost feels like a time barrier has been removed, and it suddenly doesn’t feel like they can be anything or anyone anymore. It’s Chuseok, and they have to leave in a few hours, and they don’t know when they’ll get to spend time together like this again, where everything slows down and comes to a standstill.

But they still have a few hours.

Soonyoung sighs. “I don’t want to leave yet.”

Wonwoo checks his phone for the time. “It’s only half past six. It’s still early. Let’s stay.”

Finally sobered up, Soonyoung laughs softly, a happy sound in the store that Wonwoo focuses on.

“Okay. Let’s stay.”

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn has only started, so it’s still a bit warm outside, but the chilly wind is enough to make people cover up and put on more layers. Soonyoung has put his jacket back on, practically shivering from the cool air that has entered the store from the door being opened numerous times. The overly oversized white hoodie swallows him up and he snuggles into the cloth, missing his bed.

After several different customers have gone in and out of the store to do their morning errands, the boys feel back to normal again now that they’re spending time in the daylight. It’s only seven in the morning, and they’ve decided to spend their time by watching the joggers on the street in front of them and making up random backstories for these strangers.

“That guy’s an accountant by day and a macho dancer at night.” Soonyoung says in a bored tone while pointing at a gray-haired man in his late thirties.

Wonwoo side-eyes him and sighs while looking for a protagonist for his turn.

“That lady probably lives alone by choice because the last time she lived with someone else, her boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend.” For the fun of it, he adds, “And they were roommates.”

The two boys chorus together in synchronized, almost dead voices.

_“Oh my God, they were roommates.”_

Although they don’t want to admit it, both of them are growing sleepier and sleepier with each passing minute, and they aren’t sure for how much longer they can keep it up. Wonwoo’s voice is getting deeper and scratchier, and Soonyoung is almost whispering, his sentences barely coherent anymore.

Seeking warmth as well as comfort, they’ve moved closer together, their shoulders leaning on each other and their arms lining up side by side, touching. At this proximity, they can clearly hear each other even if one of them was only whispering. (By ‘one of them’, it was most probably Soonyoung.)

“Hey,” Wonwoo breaks the silence, “do you want some coffee?”

Soonyoung thinks about this. “No thanks. I need to get some sleep when I get home. How about you? You’re driving home to Changwon later, right?”

“Hmm.... I’ll pass. I’ll take a nap first in the dorm and then drive in the afternoon.” Wonwoo breathes in, sounding cool and calm, and honestly, Soonyoung wishes he could listen to this all day. It’d be nice to fall asleep to.

“What if you don’t wake up?”

“I don’t know either, but let’s just trust that I will. I’d rather risk not waking up and getting killed by my parents than stay awake for even longer.”

“Do your parents need you home right away?”

“They miss me.” He can hear Wonwoo’s voice grow softer. “And I miss them too. I haven’t seen them since before this semester started, so it’ll be nice to come home. Although, trust me, things are a little crazy in the city…but it’s my kind of crazy. It’s the home kind of crazy.”

Soonyoung lightly chuckles at that.

“How about you?” Wonwoo turns his head a fraction of an inch to look at him. “When does your mom expect you?”

“Hmm.... What do you think? If I’d slept at Jeonghan’s, by what time would I be awake?”

“To be safe, just before noon?”

Not knowing if he can last until noon, Soonyoung asks, “Um... What’s the earliest possible time?”

Wonwoo chuckles, air blowing out of his nose and his shoulders moving ever so slightly. He opens his phone to check the time again, and says, “I’d say around eight. Does that satisfy you?”

Soonyoung leans his head closer to him to look at the time, and hums in approval.

“Okay. It looks like we have a little over half an hour to spare before we leave. What do you want to do?”

Wonwoo is just about to open his mouth to reply when Soonyoung speaks again. But truth be told, he was about to spew some nonsense anyway, so he’s thankful for the interruption.

“Oh, I know! This is the perfect time to have breakfast!” With a dreamy look on his face, Soonyoung closes his eyes and rests his chin on both of his palms, tilting his head from side to side. “I’ve never had breakfast in a 7-Eleven before; coffee in the morning or on late nights sometimes, maybe a midnight snack, but never breakfast. This’ll be interesting.”

Wonwoo looks at the oddly excited boy. “Is it a low if it’s not really something new for me? One too many drinks at one of Jeonghan’s many parties can lead me here in the morning.”

“And why’d you want to cure a hangover in a 7-Eleven?”

“Why’d you want to cure a hangover at Jeonghan’s house?”

“You’ve got a point.” Soonyoung closes his eyes again and smiles. “I can’t wait to have breakfast. What should we have?”

“I know what I’m having for breakfast.”

Soonyoung opens one eye and looks at the boy to his left. “What?”

Without missing a beat, Wonwoo answers.

“You.”

Taken aback, Soonyoung’s initial reaction is to laugh loudly, his voice full and filling the air with his amusement. Unsure of what Wonwoo means, he wittily comes up with a reply.

“Why? Because I’m a snack?”

At this point, he’s facing Wonwoo fully now, his head resting on one hand and his body adjusted on his seat. His legs dangle off the chair and as he swings his feet, he accidentally hits Wonwoo softly in the shin. He doesn’t even say sorry; instead, he winks at him. And that’s how Wonwoo knows he’s sober.

“No,” Wonwoo starts. “But because you smell like eggs.”

Insulted and confused, Soonyoung sits up straight, taking offense.

“And what does that mean?!”

It’s Wonwoo’s turn to laugh now, leaning back and letting himself go as his breaths become shorter and his stomach almost starts to ache from so much laughter. When he thinks he’s done, it only takes one look at Soonyoung’s annoyed face for him to double over again and hit the table several times like a madman. That’s how funny Soonyoung’s expression is.

When he’s finally, _finally_ , done laughing, he takes several moments to take in a couple of deep breaths and recover. During this, Soonyoung unknots his eyebrows and observes him blankly.

“Was I supposed to be offended? Because, when cooked right, eggs smell pretty amazing in the morning, don’t you think?”

“It was an insult, Soonie. You’ve been out all night partying and getting drunk, only to start dancing again in the middle of a convenience store, and you haven’t taken a shower in I don’t know how long. I can’t wait to get out of here and get some fresh air.”

“Hey!” Soonyoung pouts. “We only have around twenty minutes left. It’s not _that_ bad.”

Wonwoo smiles softly at the boy sitting in front of him, so expressive even when he’s drunk _and_ sober. Comforting him, he says, “You know I don’t mean that, Soonie. Contrary to popular belief, I actually like hanging out with you.”

“Thanks.” Soonyoung smiles, but then frowns once again. “’Popular belief’? Do people think we hate each other or something?”

Running a hand over his face, Wonwoo breathes in deeply before answering.

“It’s an expression. By popular belief, I only mean yours.”

“Oh.”

Soonyoung can only sit there, flattered, all thoughts of breakfast having left his head. His cheeks have started to pink, but he tries not to worry about Wonwoo noticing. He can easily blame it on his being drunk earlier, or the sun’s heat; the latter was true – as the minutes tick by and the sun rises higher, their comfortable position by the window only becomes more and more of a disadvantage as the rays hit their faces. He can feel beads of sweat starting to accumulate on his forehead. Sighing, he pushes away his bangs with one hand.

Although Wonwoo was joking earlier, he has to admit, he can’t wait to get out of here either. But he’ll be damned if he won’t try to make the most out of it before the two of them have to part ways this morning.

Turning to Wonwoo, he smiles.

“So, what do you say about breakfast?”

 

 

 

 

 

They were geniuses. Actual geniuses.

Like two partners in crime, they divided silly tasks between them and got to work, making breakfast in a convenience store in autumn some sort of adventure. It was actually kind of sad, but who cared? They were having fun.

Wonwoo, who had declared himself “commander-in-chief” in this special mission, had tasked himself with getting the bags of cereal and looking for sporks. He would have preferred spoons, but that’s all they had. Although he trusted Soonyoung enough to know he was sober enough not to end up in some accident, he had chosen to play it safe and kept the clumsy boy away from the cutlery.

Soonyoung, who was helping out with buying and preparing food in the store for the first time this morning, had been assigned to get the milk. All he had to do was walk a couple of feet, open the fridge, reach out his arm, get the carton, close the fridge, and go to the counter. Simple enough, right?

Well, it wasn’t, it’d seemed.

You see, Soonyoung had only taken three or four steps away from the table, as excited as you could possibly get in acquiring milk, of all possible mundane things. Things had been going well up until he took his fifth step – which he never did take, because he ended up tripping on an almost empty packet of biscuits, the keyword being _nearly_.

In one miscalculated, unforeseen step, he heard the crushing of the biscuits before he heard the sliding of his foot, and in what felt like slow motion, he most ungracefully landed on his butt. And that’s how Wonwoo and Soonyoung (who was still recovering from the fall) ended up eating bags of cereal with sporks while standing outside the 7-Eleven miserably.

Well, miserable on Soonyoung’s part. Wonwoo doesn’t really care; he’s still priding himself off of coming up with the idea of pouring milk into the bags of cereal so they wouldn’t have to worry about looking for containers.

The two boys lean against the windows, the other side of which was where they had been sitting earlier, talking for hours. Wonwoo hums softly as he watches the cars whizz past them, listening carefully to the white noise and picking out what he can recognize. Soonyoung, however, is less aware of his surroundings and more aware of the aching pain in his unlucky posterior. He hadn’t gotten into any accidents while he was drunk, yet the minute he’s sober and tries to make himself useful is when he ends up hurting himself. Only Soonyoung.

Is he overreacting? Yes. But does that realization make his butt hurt any less? No.

However, it does lessen his selfish sulking. After all, the moment he and Wonwoo finish eating, they’ll be on the road, and in twenty minutes, he’ll be home. And Wonwoo won’t be there anymore.

It isn’t that he’s clinging onto Wonwoo specifically. It feels more like he’s clinging onto this sense of calm and peace the night that passed had given him. After all, who stays in a 7-Eleven for eight hours simply because they _want_ to? All Soonyoung knows of 7-Elevens are quick trips to grab a coffee when he’s on the way to class, or when he’s about to have an all-nighter and they’ve run out of coffee at home, or when it’s a hot summer day and he and his friends are in desperate need of relief that only an icy Slurpee could give them.

Convenience stores are called such because supposedly, everything you need’s already in there. But he had never thought that it would also give him a night of drunken conversation and laughter over hot cups of ramen with a friend he wished he’d gotten close to sooner. Yet it was something he had badly needed.

It wasn’t that anything bad had happened. It just felt like everything that was going for him at the moment wasn’t exactly good. Sophomore year had ended badly for him, and junior year somehow started the same way – with cranky professors and unreasonable deadlines within the first week back at university. It had felt like he had no time for anything anymore. He had no idea how he was going to survive the rest of the semester, much less the rest of the year.

Maybe that’s why he let himself get drunk that night.

Don’t get him wrong, Soonyoung has no doubt that any of his other friends would have taken care of him as well as Wonwoo had. Come to think of it, maybe Seungcheol and Jun would have done better jobs, or Jeonghan would have let him do one too many stupid things, or Jihoon would have ignored him all night. But for some reason, he’s glad it had been Wonwoo.

“Hey, are you done?” Wonwoo asks, looking into his bag of cereal.

Surprised, Soonyoung shakes himself out of his thoughts and brings himself back to the moment. He almost is, actually, but he doesn’t say anything. He even slows down and takes his time eating, making sure all of his taste buds are indulged and he gets every last drop of milk on the plastic spork. The process becomes so excruciatingly slow that it honestly starts to feel like he’s tasting cardboard.

Wonwoo, who’s noticed that there is nothing left for Soonyoung to scarf down, grabs the other boy’s spork and empty bag out of his hands and throws them in the trash can. Then, he starts walking back to Jeonghan’s house.

“Wait!” Soonyoung calls out a few feet behind him.

“What?” Wonwoo turns around, squinting at the sun directly above Soonyoung’s head.

“Let’s get Slurpees before we leave.”

At the mention of the cold, refreshing, liquidated form of diabetes that he loves so much, Wonwoo grins. This makes Soonyoung smile, knowing he’s spared them a few minutes more.

Walking back to the store, Wonwoo says with a smile, “How could we have forgotten to get Slurpees after having stayed in a 7-Eleven for hours?” He opens the door, and Soonyoung follows.

“You’re back?” Minghao asks in a small voice, confused.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be out in a minute. We’re just getting Slurpees.”

Wonwoo’s voice becomes lost in the aisles as he heads to the back, where the machine is. Soonyoung only smiles at Minghao and then follows him excitedly, like a pet who wants his treat. When he gets there, Wonwoo is looking at the flavors, thinking while turning over a cup in his hands. But Soonyoung just immediately gets a cup and goes for it because he already knows what he wants: the purple one. He’s not even entirely sure what flavor it is, but he’d tried it out last week and was instantly hooked.

When he’s done, he takes Wonwoo’s cup from him – to the surprise of the concentrated boy – with the intention of doing something for him for once today.

“What do you want?” he asks.

Wonwoo, whose mouth had formed an ‘o’ earlier, presses his lips together and smiles. In a fake southern accent, he says, “It’s not that simple.”

“Holy shit, you’ve seen _The Notebook_ too? That movie made me cry so hard!”

“Well, who hasn't? But you do know that it’s problematic, right? The guy was a douchebag starting off from the first time they met and he threatened to fall from a Ferris wheel if she didn’t go on a date with him.”

“Of course I know that. But admit it, it made you cry too.”

Wonwoo rolls his eyes. “Yes.”

Soonyoung chuckles knowingly. “But really, what do you want? We have to get going soon.”

The stickers on each of the dispensers, labelling each mysterious flavor, have faded and been scratched off to the point of unreadability. But who cares?

Taking a long look at the flavors (which aren’t a lotn there’s literally only three), Wonwoo inhales sharply and says with a finality in his tone, “The blue one.”

Nodding, Soonyoung starts dispensing the blue liquid into his empty cup.

“Do you even know what flavor this is?”

“Why? Do you know what flavor the purple one is?”

“Touché.”

After paying, the two boys finally leave the store for the last time today. Soonyoung looks at the small establishment for a few moments, rewinding what he can remember of the night’s events in his head.

Wonwoo watches him, and although he’s so exhausted he can probably fall asleep on a rock if he just lay down and tried, he does his best to stay awake for Soonyoung. Admittedly, he has no regrets staying up to take care of him. He’s seen plenty of friends get drunk before and he’s had to take care of several of them in the past. But staying up to make sure Soonyoung would eat, drink water, be fully clothed, and dispose of bodily fluids properly was quite interesting. There was more to him than he’d thought.

“Let’s go?”

Soonyoung snaps out of his sentimental trance and looks away from the building.

“Oh, yeah, sure. Lead the way to your car.”

Wonwoo nods, and the two head off. The short walk back to Jeonghan’s is silent, and although both of them are sleepy as ever, there is a sense of fulfilment in the air, and that is more than enough.

 

 

 

 

 

Deciding that he badly needs the fresh air after being stuck in a small, air-conditioned convenience store for the past five hours, Soonyoung leaves his window down after asking for Wonwoo’s permission. He closes his eyes and breathes in the chilly autumn air from the passenger seat. Now that he’s sober, he wonders if he’s going to get a hangover sooner or later. He hopes he doesn’t.

Without opening his eyes, he speaks.

“Hey, Wonwoo?”

“Yeah?” Wonwoo glances over at the resting boy.

“Do you get hungover?”

Wonwoo lets out a breath in amusement. “When I’ve had too much to drink, yes, but I have a pretty good tolerance. So most of the time, no.”

“Do you stay up until you’re sober or just sleep it off?”

“Well, when I’m wasted I sometimes pass out so I sort of don’t have a choice. But I usually stay up late anyway so I just wait until I’m sober, unless I’m too tired.” Eyes still on the road, he thinks some more on this. “It’s an interesting feeling, that period of in-between when you’re sobering up. It’s like the drunkness just slowly wavers until you don’t even realize it’s gone. You just know that you’re okay now.”

“Hmm....” Soonyoung hums thoughtfully. “Wait, is ‘drunkness’ a word?”

The driver only laughs, his voice deep and a little hoarse from sleepiness. Wonwoo tries not to close his eyes for too long so he doesn’t accidentally fall asleep while driving because he has to get Soonyoung home safely, but it’s almost impossible.

“Soonyoung?”

“Hm?” He opens his eyes, and looks over at Wonwoo.

“Can you talk to me to keep me awake? Tell me anything, even one of your stupid stories or whatever.”

“Oh, okay.” Soonyoung starts to feel concern, and sits up straight to observe Wonwoo. “We probably should have gotten coffee.”

“No, it’s okay. I need to sleep after getting you home anyway. Just try to keep me awake until we get there.”

“Hm, alright.” 

Soonyoung shifts again until he’s comfortable in his seat. He looks over at Wonwoo once again, who’s still focused on driving, and looks ahead at the road as well. Placing his hands over his stomach, he leans against the headrest, and starts saying the first thing that comes to mind.

“I used to have a crush on you, you know.”

Not at all expecting that, Wonwoo widens his eyes the slightest bit and turns to Soonyoung, who doesn’t even bother to look at him.

“Focus on the road or else you’re going to get us killed.”

When he doesn’t say any more, Wonwoo shifts his attention back to the wheel and just hopes if he waits patiently enough, Soonyoung will continue. Once he realizes what Soonyoung actually had just said, he smirks to himself, interested.

“I guess you’re awake now.” Soonyoung says in a bored voice.

“Anyway,” he continues, “it happened a year ago, around the start of sophomore year. We’d known each other for a year already by then, because of our other friends, but something about you was intriguing. I don’t want to be cliché or anything, but you were mysterious, but not in a _Twilight_ kind of way, more like, _this guy doesn’t even talk much when we hang out, but when he laughs or smiles, it’s almost gratifying_ , kind of way.”

“Hmm, okay. Go on.”

Soonyoung sighs.

“It was only the start of sophomore year, but somehow, dance classes were already much harder than they had been the previous semester. They were longer and more tiring, so I didn’t get to hang out with the group much anymore, and when I did, I sometimes fell asleep or just stayed quiet to listen. And, you know, because I became part of the background more, I started to notice you more. Like how your nose scrunches when you laugh, or how you’d let out a breath through your nose when you’d find something amusing.”

Wonwoo smiles at this, and does the latter.

“See, just like that! I noticed these little things, and sometimes when I’d see you walking across campus I’d just watch you and think about calling you over to hang out or something.”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Wonwoo looks over at Soonyoung for a second. “Why didn’t you?”

“I was too shy.” Soonyoung looks down at his hands.

“You? Shy?” Wonwoo laughs out loud.

“Hey, it’s the truth! I mean, I know it wouldn’t have been weird at all because we were friends anyway, but I just couldn’t, you know? I didn’t think I was ready to be alone with you and all your little mannerisms. But I did often wonder what would have happened if I’d just asked you to have coffee with me, or help me out with our History assignment at the library, or watch this movie together that my dance teacher recommended.”

When he stays silent for a few moments, Wonwoo asks, “And how’d you get over me?”

Soonyoung looks out the window thoughtfully, watching the streets go by.

“I don’t even know. It just...faded. I got busier with dancing, too busy to even think about you anymore. It’s like, while my feelings were getting stronger, you stayed yourself, and since I never approached you alone, there was no progress. So I guess my brain just thought, _‘Well, nothing’s happening here. What now?’_ ”

Looking down, Soonyoung leans back into the car and looks at Wonwoo. “And, well, I still notice your little mannerisms because they’ve already become so familiar to me without you noticing. But it’s just knowing now, no more wanting.”

No more words are spoken between them, but Wonwoo smiles, and that’s enough to make Soonyoung smile as well. After a few moments, Wonwoo speaks up, his voice low.

“I wish you’d told me sooner.”

Chuckling, Soonyoung responds, “What’s the point?”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but I did actually have a little fun watching over you this morning, even if it meant accompanying you pee and throwing away your vomit.”

“Will you ever let me live that down?”

“ _Point is_ , think of how much fun grabbing a coffee, or studying History, or watching a movie together could be. Not too bad of an idea, right?”

Smiling to himself, Soonyoung shakes his head and says, “Yeah, you’re probably right.” Thinking about it, he adds, “You’re not, like, weirded out or anything? I probably sound like a stalker.”

“No, Soonie, stalkers follow people around unwarranted with weird intentions. You’re just observant.”

“Observant.” Soonyoung likes the sound of that. “No one’s ever called me that before.”

“Well, you are. I’m sure you’ll make a great choreographer someday, seeing as how well you notice how I move. Imagine all the little mistakes you’ll notice in your future students.”

Unable to help it, Soonyoung snickers, and the sound of his laughter is carried away with the wind.

“I like that image in my head. If I hold onto that, I might actually survive college. Or, well, this year. Actually, let’s not get ahead of ourselves; I’ll stick to this semester. I might actually survive this semester.”

Wonwoo chuckles softly. The two boys stay silent, both happy and sleepy, desiring for their beds.

“We’re almost there.” Soonyoung says.

When they reach the street where Soonyoung lives, Wonwoo slows the car down and prepares to say goodbye. Soonyoung is about to get off when Wonwoo stops him.

“Wait.”

Getting back into the car, Soonyoung looks at him, waiting.

“Give me your phone number – just in case you need someone to look after you in a 7-Eleven again.”

For some reason, this makes Soonyoung blush, but the amount of trees along the street cast enough shadows to mask the color of his cheeks. After a few moments, it’s like his mind starts functioning again and he pulls out his phone. Not trusting himself to speak, he just hands it over to Wonwoo, his number on the screen. The boy takes it, and quietly presses numbers into his own phone and returns it to him.

“We’ll see each other in school after Chuseok, alright?” Wonwoo says. “And you better call me soon for coffee or whatever. It’s time sophomore year Soonyoung faces his fears.”

Soonyoung can’t wipe the smile off of his face as he waves at Wonwoo who finally drives off. He doesn’t know how long he stands there on the curb, but when his mom starts loudly calling out to him from the second floor window, the wave of sleepiness suddenly crashes into him like a storm that comes out of nowhere, and he instinctively walks to his bedroom like a zombie amidst all the questions his cheery mother has. He drops into his bed like a rock, and before he falls asleep, a vision of eating ramen with a certain brown-haired boy at a 7-Eleven at three AM comes into his mind, and without thinking, he smiles.

And he’s gone.

 

 

 

 

 

When Soonyoung wakes up, it’s only a little after noon, and his head is throbbing, but only from the lack of sleep. His mouth is as dry as the family cat’s litter box, and he has no way of verifying this, but it tastes almost like a graveyard. He blindly pats around the side of his head and finds his phone underneath the pillow. After the initial state of blindness from the brightness of his screen, when his eyes adjust, he notices a text from _Jeon Wonwoo_.

“Well, that’s a formal contact name.” he says to himself, reading the message.

_“Hi Soonie, I hope you’re sleeping when you get this. I’m back at the dorm and just wanted to tell you that what you said in the car doesn’t bother me at all, promise. Let’s see a movie together after Chuseok ok?”_

Soonyoung smiles so wide that it threatens to split his face in half. But he doesn’t care.

After reading the message another time to let his brain comprehend all of the words, he goes to the contact name and changes it to _“wonu”_ , and after thinking for a few seconds, adds a cup with straw emoji to remind him of the Slurpees they had this morning.

He shuts his phone off and closes his eyes, pleased with himself. He is so, so close to dozing off again when suddenly his mother’s voice calls out his name from downstairs.

He frowns, and sighs before getting up.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!! i'm @yellowkims on twt if u wanna be friends :D


End file.
